Lucinda Rogers of Travelers Rest was the first protester to arrive Friday morning outside the Westin Poinsett, two hours before first daughter Ivanka Trump was scheduled to speak before a select group of businesswomen.

The sign Rogers held expressed the primary grievance shared by the 50 or so protesters who would later join her: "Ivanka, talk to us! Local women."

The protesters were friendly and funny, with the exception of one confrontation with a Trump supporter, but the event's organizer, Inge Leland of Indivisible SC 4, said their message to Ivanka Trump was serious.

Lucinda Rogers of Travelers Rest was the first protester to arrive to the Westin Poinsett on Friday, Jan. 26, 2018, to voice her opposition to the Trump administration. Ivanka Trump spoke Friday to a ballroom full of Upstate businesswomen.(Photo: Anna B. Mitchell)

"We have to represent," said Leland, a Greenville resident for 13 years. "We have to let people know that South Carolina is a progressive state."

"You are a woman, you should understand this," Leland said, directing her comments to the president's daughter. "I'm a New Yorker, too, so girl to girl, New Yorker to New Yorker, talk to your dad and tell him to stop the war on women."

The businesswomen who walked past the protesters mostly said they were curious about Ivanka Trump's message.

"I'm just excited to hear what she has to say about tax reform today," said one businesswoman, who declined to give her name. "That's what we heard she'll be talking about."

"I just want to learn more," Greenville businesswoman Vivian Wong said. Wong works in the export-import business. "I received an invitation from Sen. Tim Scott."

June Baswell of Greenville expresses her opposition to the Trump administration Friday, Jan. 26. 2018, outside a hotel where Ivanka Trump is speaking to a group of Upstate businesswomen.(Photo: Anna B. Mitchell)

Lt. Jason Rampey with the Greenville Police Department consulted Leland to make sure her protesters knew who to contact if there were any problems.

Matt Purinton of Greenville, holding a sign that read "Nepotism," said protesters come out to Main Street regularly to express their unedited views of the administration. Nine out of 10 people who go by, he said, give the group a thumbs-up. He laughed when a man in a Dodge Ram pickup truck drove by and yelled out "Get a job!"

"I like that there are people willing to stand up," Purinton said. "Ivanka Trump is a person with political credentials who doesn't deserve them. She is 100 percent an example of nepotism."

Two Democratic congressional candidates also showed up for the protest: Will Morin and Lee Turner of Greenville. They are running for the U.S. House seat that Trey Gowdy of Spartanburg holds.

Morin said he is running to emphasize job creation and apprenticeships, especially in trades such as carpentry, plumbing and electrical work.

From left, protester Lee Turner explains her opposition to the Trump administration Friday, Jan. 26, 2018, to high school journalism students Lillian Maple and Michaela McNutt.(Photo: Anna B. Mitchell)

"Out here today, this is the voice of citizens," Morin said. "More citizens should run for office, not just the elite — people like Trey Gowdy who hasn't held a town hall meeting in two years."

Lee Turner, a finance expert running as a Democrat against Gowdy, held a sign that read "Tax Reform = Fleecing of America."

She said she decided to run when she observed how Trump's tax reform proposals — now law — would benefit the president directly. Turner has worked in finance for 40 years.

"If we can give the disenfranchised a reason to vote, I can go into a group of Republicans and peel off 15 to 20 percent," Turner said. "Trump has a 30 percent base. No one can touch that. But I feel I can peel off some of those top layers."

Christ Church Episcopal School journalism students Lillian Maple and Michaela McNutt, both 17, came out to cover the event and talked to protesters outside.

"We came to check it out," said Maple, who also attended the women's march. "I had always considered myself a moderate but now that everything is so polarized I seem more like a liberal."

Protesters generally kept to themselves until Sherry Riddle walked past the group. Riddle called out her support for the Trump family, and protester Edmund Cass yelled back saying Donald Trump is ruining the lives of young undocumented immigrants.

"I just talked to an 18-year-old who can't get her license, and she went to school in Greenville County her whole life," Cass said. "And because of Donald Trump, they will not be able to be licensed in the state of South Carolina. That's criminal and it's a moral failure."

"You know what? I'm going to pray for you because you need prayer," Riddle answered.

Cass, who said he is archbishop of the Progressive Catholic Church in Greenville, said Riddle is on the wrong side of history.

"People have to speak out and sometimes we have to be loud," Cass said. "If that hurts her feelings, I'm sorry."

"I support Trump," Riddle said. "We work downtown and came down here to see Ivanka. These protesters are the same people here every Tuesday."

By 1 p.m. the protesters had dispersed, several of them retreating to The Nose Dive for a warm meal. Trump supporters held back to wave goodbye to the first daughter.

"We love you!" Chris Muller, a visitor from Orlando called out as Ivanka Trump climbed into a black SUV waiting outside the hotel. The president's daughter paused and raised her hand.